Methods: findings were obtained from unpublished clinical evaluations of 76 patients (47 female, 29 male; age 16-78 years) across four hospitals in China, and a survey of 238 clients from a Migun demonstration center in Seoul, Korea.

Findings: Health professionals in the four Chinese hospitals rated thermomechanical massage as effective among 75-95% of their patients with a variety of musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, neurological and other disorders. Similarly, 91% of clients from the Migun demonstration center in Seoul reported an improvement of 91% overall. The most common health problems of the clients were musculoskeletal (40%), gastrointestinal (20%), and nervous system (14%). There were also side effects reported; the most common involved the gastrointestinal (15/41), integumentary (12/41), musculoskeletal (5/41), nervous system symptoms (5/41), urogenital and endocrine systems (2/41), cardiovascular system (1/41), and respiratory (1/41) systems. Side effects were generally mild in severity and short term in duration.

Conclusions: Although these findings are preliminary, and based upon limited clinical evaluations and self-reported client data, they suggest that thermomechanical devices may offer major health benefits with moderate numbers of relatively minor side-effects. The next phase of the research will be to confirm these findings in a large, representative sample of thermomechanical massage clients using a new standardized self-reported health and wellness survey before initiating further studies to assess effectiveness of the device under controlled clinical conditions.

Key words: Health and Wellness outcomes measures, crosscultural health, alternative therapies, thermomechanical massage devices.